Monash Uni students forced to pay for internet access

Monash University students will have to pay for extra internet access, despite online study being a central element of many subjects.

Students will be allocated some free internet access according to how much each subject needs under the new internet quota management system. But once students have used their quota, students at Monash's campuses in Australia, South Africa and Malaysia will pay from $11 to $55 to buy extra internet access.

Previously, students had unlimited access. It is believed that arts students have been allocated the lowest volume of free internet access.

Education officer Amanda Fitzgerald said the Monash Student Association found the internet cap abhorrent, given the increasing reliance on electronic materials in subjects.

She said it would particularly affect poorer students who did not have their own internet access. "It creates an academic advantage for students who have it (internet access) at home and who can sit there for as many hours as they like and download whatever they need," Ms Fitzgerald said.

The new charge, she said, added to the growing financial burden on students already saddled with large HECS debts.

"The decision-making body at the university deal with such large sums of money they lose the concept of what it is like to be a student living on a very menial budget," Ms Fitzgerald said.

Third-year arts/law student Frances Sagala said the university system was increasingly becoming a user-pays one.

"A lot of students are feeling like they're bearing a lot of the costs," she said.

A Monash University spokesman said the cap was being introduced to prevent the potential misuse of the internet for non-academic purposes. He said the faculties had worked out generous caps and less than 10 per cent of students would be affected.

Some universities, such as Murdoch in Western Australia, already had internet caps.

National Union of Students president Jodie Jansen said many universities now charged fees for services that were once free because they were cash-strapped.

Monash University council will discuss raising HECS fees up to 25 per cent and expanding full-fee-paying places on March 22.

The first semester begins tomorrow for students at Swinburne, Ballarat and RMIT universities. Deakin, La Trobe, Victoria, Monash and Melbourne university students start on March 1.